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I see a lot of people on the forums complaining, QQing, offering thoughts, and even giving a little constructive criticism (*gasp*) on how PGI could fix perceived game issues. I'd like to contribute to the latter, so here goes:
It is logical that players will want the most effective mech builds they can make out of any of the given chassis. Everyone will try to Min/Max their mechs; and if you don't, you really should. This is as it should be.
Using cover to shield oneself from fire is simply common sense. Firing weapons during a jump and landing behind cover is a very effective tactic to not only deliver damage, but protect oneself. The tactic is not flawed, nor is it an exploit (as I've read so often as of late).
Weapons such as the ER PPC and Gauss Rifle are not poorly implemented. They function in the game as intended - deliver concentrated damage at range. They have their drawbacks, given the heat and tonnage required to field them. The Gauss will even blow up, and will probably kill you if it is in a torso hardpoint. Seems balanced to me.
Combine all of the above - Min/Max builds, jump and fire behind cover, and large amounts of high damage concentrated weaponry - and you have the current situation of Cataphract / Highlander poptarts.
What is the issue? How do you fix it? Should it be fixed?
I think the issue is this: We are free to put any weapon into any mech, given we have the critical slots and available tonnage. Mech designs are afforded too much freedom here, combining too many abusive possibilities, which not only stray from canon but make the game less fun in practice. Anymore, I've found 8v8 matches to be 5 poptarts, 2 assaults and a light mech. This doesn't encourage battlefield tactics, strategic cooperative game play, or creative thinking - it is simply finding the best line of cover, and may the best snipers win.
If you've read this far - thank you.
My proposed solution would be to limit the number of "large" weapons a chassis could carry, by tonnage/weight class of the mech.
What could be classified as a large weapon?
PPC / ER PPC
Gauss
AC/20
AC/10
LB 10-X AC
Large Pulse Laser
LRM20
LRM15 (Maybe?)
Allowed number of large weapons, per weight class:
Light - 0 (zed)
Medium - 1
Heavy - 2
Assault - 3
100 Ton Mechs - 4
Combine these weapon limits with tonnage limits on drops, and I believe that would force the balance of mech builds toward well rounded combat platforms, and less toward specialized sniper builds. Furthermore, this really pushes the game closer to traditional battletech lore, where you will never see a Raven with an AC/20 duct taped to it.
Perhaps hero mechs could deviate from this, allowing more than the normal number of large weapons?
Thank you for reading.
Edited by Grieg, 22 April 2013 - 06:25 PM.
